Utica-based National Guard unit to return after time at Guantanamo Bay

UTICA — About 170 soldiers in a New York National Guard military police unit are scheduled to arrive back home this weekend after spending most of the past year at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

National Guard officials say members of the 107th Military Police Co. were scheduled to meet relatives at the unit’s headquarters at the state armory in Utica at 4 p.m. Saturday. Other soldiers will continue on to hometown armories in Hornell, Auburn, Rochester, Brooklyn and the Albany area.

The unit deployed a year ago and spent the past 10 months providing security at the Guantanamo military detention facility.

The soldiers completed their demobilization tasks at Fort Bliss, Texas, last week before heading home.